Lima on ‘awkward’ MacDonald Bellator staredown: ‘I thought he was going to sell me an iPad’

Douglas Lima reflects on his first faceoff with his next opponent, Rory MacDonald.

Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima has already proven that he can withstand top UFC 170-pounders coming to his organization to try to take his belt away. He’ll get the chance again when he faces off with Rory MacDonald on January 20th in Inglewood, CA. At last weekend’s Bellator 183 event, they tried to hype the bout by staging a staredown between the two men. But it was a little strange:

Both men were dressed up, and Rory was wearing a turtleneck. He looked a little too much like Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs for Lima’s taste, apparently (via MMA Junkie):

“I thought he was going to sell me an iPad.”

He also stated jokingly that he “had the better looks”, and went onto explain why the “awkward” face-off sort of just dragged on the way it did:

“You know, nobody broke us apart,” he said. “So we just stood there. I didn’t want to be the guy who looked away first, but it didn’t matter. It’s fun. It’s real. It’s a good feeling to get that first staredown.”

Lima (29-6, 10-2 Bellator) is a two-time Bellator champion, dropping the belt to Andrey Koreshkov in 2015 but winning it back via KO last year. He defeated UFC transplant Lorenz Larkin by decision at Bellator NYC in June to defend his title. Former UFC title challenger MacDonald (19-4, 1-0 Bellator) defeated Paul Daley by submission in his promotional debut in May.

Their January 20th bout is scheduled for a show that doesn’t have a name or a number as of yet.